1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electric lid closures which close and open a lid by force of an electric power, and more particularly to electric closures of a type which is applied to a trunk lid of a motor vehicle to draw down the lid to its fully close position by force of the electric power once the lid comes to a predetermined almost close position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hitherto, various lid closures of the above-mentioned type have been proposed and put into practical use particularly in the field of motor vehicles. Some are of a type which comprises a lock unit mounted on a lid and an electric closing unit mounted on a trunk mouth of the vehicle. The lock unit includes a latch plate for latching a striker possessed by the electric closing unit. That is, when the lid is pivoted to an almost close position where the latch plate engages with the striker, the electric closing unit starts to operate and causes a drawing section thereof to draw down the lid, via the latched striker, to a fully close position by force of an electric power. In this fully close position of the lid, the drawing section assumes its lower work position.
When, under this fully close position of the lid, a trunk open lever installed in the vehicle cabin is manipulated, the latch plate disengages the striker to release the lid. Upon this, the electric closing unit operates to move the drawing section upward to its upper stand-by position. Once the drawing section reaches the upper stand-by position, operation of the electric closing unit is stopped.
However, due to the inherent construction, some of the above-mentioned electric lid closures have failed to provide users with satisfied performance. That is, when, for instance, in winter, manipulation of the trunk open lever fails to have the lid sufficiently open due to freezing of some parts of the mechanism irrespective of disengagement of the latch plate from the striker, the following drawback tends to occur. That is, when, under this half-finished condition, the lid is accidentally or carelessly pushed down to a position to bring about an engagement between the latch plate and the striker, the drawing section is forced to move down to the lower work position from the upper stand-by position, which inevitably induces unexpected full closing of the lid. This unexpected action is very inconvenient because an operator has to manipulate the trunk open lever again for opening the lid.